Planet Earth - Earth Day Activities - Using Maps and Globes - Science - Reading

This comprehensive, standards-based unit teaches your kindergarten and first grade students all about planet Earth. Children love learning about our place in the solar system, an overview of our planet, how to use a map and a globe, where we live in the world (address, city/town, country and continent), how to take care of the Earth, how to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost.... plus so much more!

Students are incredibly engaged:

• watching and learning through a slideshow
• making an Earth Day craft and bulletin board display
• writing about how they can help our planet
• creating their own mini books and flip charts
• using cards to sort with a pocket chart
• reading and making their own maps
• .... plus so much more!

Over 120 pages of printable activities are included in this download!

--- SPECIAL SALE: 25% OFF for TWO DAYS only! ---

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "LOVED this whole thing! I will use this again next year because the kinders were so engaged."

Four different Earth themes are included.

I teach one theme each week throughout the month of April:

• Theme #1: Planet Earth
• Theme #2: All About Maps
• Theme #3: Earth Day and Nature
• Theme #4: Recycling + Reusing

Scripted lesson plans are not included.

However, I do include an overview guide to show you which activities I use for each theme and the order I use them in.

I also walk you through how I teach this unit on my blog HERE with pictures and videos.

--- THEME 1: PLANET EARTH ---

EARTH SLIDESHOW

• An adorable slideshow introduces students to our planet and how we can care for it.
• This comes in a PDF format that can be projected on to your front board directly from your computer.

EARTH MINI BOOK

• This adorable mini book coordinates with the slideshow perfectly.
• Build fluency and support comprehension as students reread through their own book about Earth.

EARTH VOCABULARY CHARTS

• Two different vocabulary posters teach 11 new vocabulary words.
• These printables come in a BW student version to trace the words and a color version to display.

INTRODUCING PLANET EARTH ACTIVITIES

• Reading passage with comprehension questions teaches students facts about our planet.
• Students color and label the continents.
• Planet flip books show children our place in the solar system.
  

--- THEME 2: ALL ABOUT MAPS ---

INTRODUCING MAP GRIDS

• Three different coloring grid printables to teach student how to locate specific squares on a grid. For example B2: go over to B and down to 2.
• Students color each square on the grid a specific color.
• This builds their foundation for how to read map grids for our next activities.

MAP GRID ACTIVITIES

• Students learn how to look at a map key and find specific places on their maps using a grid.
• Six different activities are included.

MAPPING A TOWN

• We practice using directional words and mapping out an entire town.
• Three towns are included so students can complete the activities multiple times.
• One map is also included in color for instructional purposes.

MY PLACE ON THE MAP FLIPPY BOOKS

• Adorable "flippy books" with staggered pages have students show their very own place on the map.
• Students make a mini book showing their address, city/town, state, country and continent.
• All 50 US states are included!

MAKE YOUR OWN MAP

• Students love to cut and paste the make their own map.

READING A COMPASS

• Students practice writing directional words.

--- THEME 3: EARTH DAY ---

REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE

• Adorable posters in both color and black and white to introduce students to the vocabulary reduce, reuse, and recycle.
• Plus, a cut + paste and categorize worksheet is an excellent follow up activity.

SORTING CARDS

• Students sort the picture cards under the correct heading - reduce, reuse, recycle.
• These work great in pocket/plastic charts whole group or in a center.

HELPING THE EARTH

• Students practice reading, vocabulary, spelling and comprehension while learning about ways to save the Earth.
• Plus a count, compare and write Earth Day activity is a fun math lesson.

BULLETIN BOARD WRITING CRAFT DISPLAY

• This is an adorable craft and writing prompt to display for Earth Day.

NATURE WALK PRINTABLES

• This checklist comes with adorable pictures in both color and black and white.
• On Earth Day, take your students on a nature walk to explore the world around us.

EARTH DAY WRITING

• Two different Earth Day writing activities are included.
• A sentence builder and ways to help the Earth make it easy to provide scaffolding.

--- THEME 4: RECYCLING ---

TRASH, COMPOST or RECYCLE

• Students sort the picture cards under the correct heading.
• These work great in pocket/plastic charts whole group or in a center.
• Follow up with a cut, sort and categorize worksheet.

HELPING OR HURTING?

• Students complete a writing prompt about what hurts and helps the Earth.
• Picture word banks and sentence starters provided on differentiated options.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

• Count and graph the Earth plus a color by sight word are included.

★ BONUS ACTIVITIES ★

I CAN READ AND COMPREHEND

• Four adorable themes to match each of our weekly themes shown above.
• For each theme, the activities come in both color and black and white.
• Two differentiated versions are included to meet different reading levels in your class for a total of 8 different reading passages with comprehension questions.

THIS UNIT IS PART OF A MONTHLY THEMATIC ENRICHMENT SERIES!

I love using theme based units to incorporate reading, writing, math, science and social studies into our primary day.

⭐ CLICK HERE to save with my YEAR-LONG BUNDLE⭐

• UNIT 1 SEPTEMBER - APPLES
• UNIT 2 OCTOBER - PUMPKINS
• UNIT 3 NOVEMBER - FALL
• UNIT 4 DECEMBER - CHRISTMAS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
• UNIT 5 JANUARY - WINTER
• UNIT 6 FEBRUARY - FRIENDSHIP
• UNIT 7 MARCH - SPRING
• UNIT 8 APRIL - EARTH this unit
• UNIT 9 MAY - ME AND MY COMMUNITY